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Hi

I received an MG34 last night and I could not get the barrel shroud and receiver to separate. The button/latch moves but is really stiff. No matter how hard I try to twist the two halves apart I cannot get them to separate.
Is there something I'm missing? I thought maybe the barrel was somehow not completely returned to the front position and was preventing the halves from swinging out, but seems it is.

I sent an email to the seller to see if he knows what's up, but would love some tips or to hear if someone had similar issues and found a solution. The gun is a Mauser S/243 from 1940 if that makes a difference.


Thanks!

beginner wrote:Hi

I received an MG34 last night and I could not get the barrel shroud and receiver to separate. The button/latch moves but is really stiff. No matter how hard I try to twist the two halves apart I cannot get them to separate.
Is there something I'm missing? I thought maybe the barrel was somehow not completely returned to the front position and was preventing the halves from swinging out, but seems it is.

I sent an email to the seller to see if he knows what's up, but would love some tips or to hear if someone had similar issues and found a solution. The gun is a Mauser S/243 from 1940 if that makes a difference.


Thanks!

As I'm not able to edit:

Finally managed to swing the receiver to "change the barrel", and it was REALLY stiff to get loose but otherwise moved freely once it unlocked. I tried to see why it was so hard to move but could not really spot anything that would jam it that badly. Closing the two halves was kind of hard as well but with a resolute swinging movement it closed properly.

Also, the barrel was very hard to get out of the sleeve, and trying another barrel I could not even get it to seat fully and actually had problems pulling it back out. Both barrels are WW2. On videos I've seen the barrel more or less drops out freely.

SO there is something fishy, any ideas on what I'm looking at or what to check? The gun is a full auto if it matters.

Continuing the monologue:

Seems the problem is a very strong recuperator spring which is making opening the action hard. That's why closing it is easier, there is a notch/groove in the sleeve for depressing the spring when closing but for opening there isn't and the force must be very strong to overcome the rod sticking out. How can I check what the real problem is? Should the spring/rod be checked or is likely on the sleeve-side? I can take pics or measurements if needed?


really looking for help on this, any input would be awesome! Thanks

The recuperator plunger should be stiff, but move freely. Maybe getting some oil inside it will help.

Others will have to jump in to help with your problem. I've pretty well figured out the MG42, but haven't played with an MG34 much.

Editing a message is only available for a few minutes after you initially post it. There's no problem with adding new messages to the chain to continue or revise things.

jbaum wrote:The recuperator plunger should be stiff, but move freely. Maybe getting some oil inside it will help.

Others will have to jump in to help with your problem. I've pretty well figured out the MG42, but haven't played with an MG34 much.

Editing a message is only available for a few minutes after you initially post it. There's no problem with adding new messages to the chain to continue or revise things.

Thanks jbaum. The plunger moves pretty freely, I'm able to push it in with my fingers but it is pretty stiff. I will put some oil in it, but would driving out the pin holding the plunger be a bad idea just to make sure the spring is not broken or the plunger is not too long for some reason, maybe clean out the channel at the same time?

Others will have to jump in to help with your problem. I've pretty well figured out the MG42, but haven't played with an MG34 much. Taking an MG42 recuperator apart can be a pain - I don't know how much trouble it is with a 34.

I had the same problem with my first mg34, having problems to get the gun to break in half. I then found out that i was putting pressure on the wrong place when trying to seperate it. What i do now is, with the cockinghandel at rear and safety on, put pressure on the release-lever, then try to turn the whole breach to the right pushing down. Do it with a pit of shockmovement just at the beginning of the action, so you get more force on the recoperatorspring. If you trry to hard, at leat with me, you bend the 2 pieces togeter at one point and the parts will not seperate as easely. Hope this will help you.

olli wrote:I had the same problem with my first mg34, having problems to get the gun to break in half. I then found out that i was putting pressure on the wrong place when trying to seperate it. What i do now is, with the cockinghandel at rear and safety on, put pressure on the release-lever, then try to turn the whole breach to the right pushing down. Do it with a pit of shockmovement just at the beginning of the action, so you get more force on the recoperatorspring. If you trry to hard, at leat with me, you bend the 2 pieces togeter at one point and the parts will not seperate as easely. Hope this will help you.

Thanks olli. I found that a "slap" on the side of the pistol grip frees it quite efficiently, but impossible to do in shooting position when prone. I put some oil down the tube, didn't seem to do much. The plunger is stiff, I cannot push it down with only one finger. How stiff are others?

Instead of oil, try some brake cleaner in all contact areas. If you can get the barrel out, then pull the muzzle booster and clean it. You do have the bolt to the rear or out of the gun when you try to rotate the barrel jacket right? Normally when I have had this problem with a 34 it is because there is old hard grease on the connecting rod -- having senior moment on proper name -- the rod that the barrel jacket is rotated on the receiver on. It has large partial threading on it and the grease with dirt gets in there and can make it had to rotate or remove the barrel jacket. Harry

messerschmittfan wrote:Instead of oil, try some brake cleaner in all contact areas. If you can get the barrel out, then pull the muzzle booster and clean it. You do have the bolt to the rear or out of the gun when you try to rotate the barrel jacket right? Normally when I have had this problem with a 34 it is because there is old hard grease on the connecting rod -- having senior moment on proper name -- the rod that the barrel jacket is rotated on the receiver on. It has large partial threading on it and the grease with dirt gets in there and can make it had to rotate or remove the barrel jacket. Harry

Hi Harry. Yeah I intend to break everything down and clean it as well as I can. I have two barrels, both WW2 and the other moves pretty freely in the sleeve, the other is really hard to seat in place (the last 1/2 inch or so I have to push it in): I will test again with the booster cone/flash suppressor of to see where it is binding.

The "connecting rod" is clean and actually the sleeve rotates nicely along it once opened. It is the openining in itself that is the problem; the recuperator spring is very strong and must be overcome

I went ahead and did a (almost) details strip of the whole gun, learned a lot! I took out the recuperator, checked the spring, the "tube" and found nothing weird. There was a lot of cosmo which I cleaned out.

Does anyone have the measurements for the recuperator rod and spring? I want to compare them to mine.

Thanks!

I check the recuperator rod and spring pressure by using a flat piece of metal such as a flat screw drive blade, flat side down and pressing it against the recuperator head. You should be able to push it in without a lot of trouble. Harry